A new face brings new changes this year to the Ottawa University cheer and dance teams.
Shayla Jacob is now at the helm and believes the teams have adapted well to the changes she made. One of the biggest changes was dividing the team into two different teams; a cheer team and a dance team.
Jacob said the teams are doing well, and she wants to help the teams achieve success this year.
“It would be nice having the cheer and dance program something OU is proud of,” she said.
Jacob thinks the biggest challenge she faces is bringing together a diverse group of cheerleaders.
“All of the people on the team come from different backgrounds, and are on different cheer levels,” she said.
The cheer and dance season goes for nine months so Jacob is always busy. Outside of group work, Jacob is constantly recruiting, doing choreography and cutting music for the team performances.
Jacob has a simple goal: To make it through all nine months with positive attitudes and keeping up the spirit throughout basketball season.
Sophomore Bethany Cobbs said the team is hard-working, and being pushed. Not being pushed to the point of stress, but to the point where they don’t want to let each other, and Jacob, down.
Moving to a new coach was hard in some ways for Cobbs because she felt the team did not know who would be talking over.
However, Cobbs is happy with the way the team has changed.
“The workouts and what is expected from the team… is a lot more than last year,” she said.
Cobbs said she believes the team has an opportunity to be more competitive.
“Everyone wants to strive for that,” she said. “Last year there was a lot of potential that the team didn’t meet, but this year it is going to be met and they won’t stop until it is.”
Before coming to OU, Jacob was the head cheer coach at Pratt Community College.